Creamed Spinach Croques Monsieurs

Hi, everyone.

The Blogger site was on the fritz Thursday evening when I made this recipe, so I am posting it now.  I came across the recipe in the May 2011 issue of EveryDay with Rachael Ray, and I knew instantly I had to make it.

It is also available online:  http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=4042. 

I have enjoyed croques monsieurs before, and I have loved them.  The usually come with ham on them, and I am not a big fan of ham.  When I made them this past Thursday, I used sliced turkey.  I didn't have a sourdough bread (the bread I would have used) on hand, so I just used some whole wheat sandwich bread.


It wasn't a bad choice, but I would recommend a thicker sliced bread.  When I ate the end result, the bread was kinda soggy.  It didn't ruin it, but it would have been better with a thick slice of sourdough bread.

I used 2% milk instead of whole milk to at least help control some of the nutritional value.  Using 2% did not affect the creamed spinach mixture from thickening.   I also used extra sharp white cheddar instead of gruyere cheese.  Lastly, I left off the eggs.  To my knowledge, a croque madame is the one with the egg (either sunny-side-up or over-easy) and not the monsieur. 

I did like the creamed spinach part on top of the bread, mustard and turkey. Very, very delicious.  Topping it with some of the extra sharp white cheddar just completed the dish.

The recipe, for me, made enough to make six creamed spinach croques monsieurs.

I served it alongside some garlicky broccoli!